Six Months on the Frontlines

For the last six months I've been on the frontlines. No, I haven't been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan (my years in the Army are long behind me); I've been working retail at a Rhino Video Games since September.

After working PR for one consumer electronics company and two video game publishers, and writing freelance as a video game journalist, I've found myself in what the popular vernacular calls "trailing-spouse" status; I'm following my wife's career. With no freelance opportunities currently in sight, I decided I needed to at least exercise my mind (a.k.a. keep my sanity) and learn something new about the video game industry that I could use later for sales, buying or even marketing in the industry.

I had often talked games with the manager of my local Rhino Video Games store (a chain of about 70-odd stores that prided itself on customer service), and he agreed to take me on and teach me about game retail. What I got was one hell of an education on what it means to actually sell video games to the end user. And while it would take many pages to recount all I've seen (and I'd probably get sued if I did commit everything to paper), there are some things publishers might wa